Viewers have grown accustomed to using their digital video recorders (DVRs) to record shows to watch later. Early DVRs store recorded programs locally in hard drives, providing users with the option to playback recorded programs from the hard drive at their own leisure. Some systems offer network DVR functionality, in which the storage occurs at a networked storage device, remote from the user's home.
Such networked DVRs (nDVRs) can help reduce costs of manufacturing the interface device that a user uses to access the recorded content, by reducing the amount of local storage needed. But nDVRs may place an increased burden on a data transmission network. As more and more users rely on nDVRs for managing their content, more and more data will need to flow across the networks, placing a strain on the network's bandwidth and other aspects.
Accordingly, there remains an ever-present need to offer users convenience in their recording options, and to balance that need with the strains on the network.